Ketamine Info
My note on Ketamine raised some response from the net, and I
thought I would respond to mind-l in general, as well as to the
specific folks who were curious.
*IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER* I am a scientific PhD, not a physician
Neither I nor my employer take any
responsibility for its accuracy or
possible use.
First, ketamine is in current use as both a veternary and a
human anesthetic. It is called "dissociative" in action, which
means that the mind is "separated" from the body. In many
cases, this separation results in profound hallucinations and
the sensation of entering another reality. In human use, a
benzodiazapine like Versed is generally used along with
ketamine to induce amnesia concerning the "emergence
reactions".
The most easily obtained reference about ketamine is
the Physicians Desk Reference. Under the heading "Ketalar",
this gives a great deal of information about the drug. Of
course, since this is a general medical reference, much of the
info of interest to mind-l is not present, but it should be
read anyway.
Perhaps the most important property of ketamine is that,
despite the induction of both anesthesia and dissociation, the
cough and gag reflexes *USUALLY* are not affected. This means
that, contrary to most other agents which will produce
anesthesia and/or unconsciousness, it is very unlikely that a
person using ketamine will aspirate their own saliva and other
excretions. This is *NOT* guarenteed, but is a pretty good
bet. Solo use, however, remains dangerous.
Ketamine is generally available for non-medical uses as
ketamine hydrochloride. Some major chemical houses carry it at
a cost of about $10/gm. I don't know if there are other
sources which are cheaper, or if the veterinary form is easily
available.
Dosages are discussed in the PDR, but are generally in the
range of 100-500 mg. Conventional useage is intravenous or
intramuscular, but "recreational" use is apparently more often
through insufflation (snorting) or solution ingestion. These
latter approaches are probably only effective with the
hydrochloride form, but the reported doses are similar to the
conventional medical doses.
As in all such experiments, if you must do this, be sure of
your materials and start slow, with small doses separated by
enough time to really come back to Earth between experiments.
Mahalo
=============================================================================
Message-ID: <185302Z23111993@anon.penet.fi>
Newsgroups: alt.drugs
From: an49019@anon.penet.fi (the ticktockman)
Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1993 18:47:29 UTC
Subject: Re: Ketamine trip
>I tried to get some info from the net gurus as to what a correct dosage of
>Ketamine would be, but never got a response. So I guesstimated, and took
>4 mL of Ketaset (equal to 400 mg Ketamine HCl). I had an empty stomach. I
>took it orally, pouring it down my throat with a spoon -
>I had heard that it tasted awful, which it did, so I avoided my tongue,
>and chased it down with an immediate mouthful of orange. No problem.
FWIW, a friend of mine who does K regularly insists that the _only_
way to do it is intramuscularly (i.e., once you try it that way, you
will always want to do it that way). He says an optimal dose this
way is 100 mg (ml). It puts him in a state where he is completely
divorced from his body and is projected into some astral plane as pure
consciousness. He says you could drag his body up and down the stairs
while he is in this state and he would have no idea that this was
happening. To him, doing K this way is as close as he can come to
dying without dying, and it is always a beautiful, wondrous experience.
He claims that taking it orally produces nowhere near as intense an
experience, but you seem like you had a really excellent trip. I've
never done the stuff myself, just thought I'd pass along this second-hand
account for anyone interested ...
the ticktockman
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From: squest@moonwatcher.avrtech.com (Steve J. Quest)
Newsgroups: alt.drugs
Subject: Ketamine.
Message-ID: <763499976.85snx@moonwatcher.avrtech.com>
Date: Sat, 12 Mar 94 19:19:36 GMT
In article magnuson@sscnet.ucla.edu writes:
>
>Does anybody know about this? I wonder: what do we have to tell vetinarians as
>to our pets' symptoms to get them to prescribe ketamine? How expensive is it?
>What's the recommended dosage for us humans? Any warnings from those who have
>done it? Any other sources besides vets? Can you advise it? etc., etc.
Ketamine HCl, available as 100 mg/ml injectable under the trade name
Vetalar (Parke-Davis) and Ketaset (Bristol) is used in veterinary
work as a general anesthetic. The dosage used produces analgesia
but with normal pharyngeal and laryngeal reflexes. It only causes
mild respiratory depression. The advantage of this anesthetic is
that you don't need to support respiration while performing any
procedures. This allows for a one-man operation. It is so widely
used in the Veterinary profession that I don't think abuse will
cause it to be discontinued, but I can see that it will one day
be serialized and accountable as a controlled substance (as all
barbituates currently are).
If you think that you will be able to go into a vets office and say
that you are going to anesthetize your cat, forget it. They only
use this drug for their surgical procedures, there is no reason why
anyone would need to buy this drug. Think about stealing the drug
instead, or fake that you are a vet and purchase them from a wholesale
drug supplier. Vet pharmaceuticals are not watched by DEA all that
much, and the distributors are very lax. At least they were when I
was in the business.
-----------------------------------------
Ketamine is chemically 2-(2-Chlorophenyl)-2-(methylamino)-
cyclohexanone. Vitamin K's are naphthoquinones. Not the same thing!
Too much vitamin K and you will give yourself a stroke, this is not a
recreational drug!
Ketamine is used as a human and animal anesthetic. Vets use it for
cats or any small animal and reptiles. I can't say what an IM (intra-
muscular) injection is like, but an IV injection is very similar to when
someone takes a crowbar and smacks you as hard as they can to the base of
your skull! Don't be standing up when you do this, you will hit the floor
hard! Better yet, be in an easy chair, you will immediately lose all body
control, very frightening to say the least. Experiment with a few mg at a
time. The insert states that the recommended dosage for anesthesia (5 to 10
minute duration) is 2 mg/kg. A 70 kg adult would then use 140 mg or about 1 and
a half CC's of injectable for a 10 minute duration of anesthesia. Of course
it is the coming OFF not the going ON that is where all the wierd stuff
occurs. Medically these are called emergence reactions, but I call them
hallucinations! :) If being awake and paralyzed doesn't scare you, the
hallucination is cool. If it frightens you, or if you become frightened,
you will snowball into a very bad trip. Mood is everything on Ketamine,
and like all recreational drugs, after you have used it a few times, you get
a feel for it and are not so apt to be frightened by it. For those who have
smoked angel dust (PCP; HOG; Phencyclidine) the effects are about the same,
only you retain less awareness while under Ketamine. I can definately say
that you want to take a dosage about 1/4 the recommended dose to not totally
go into anesthesia, but just dangle around the half conscious state. A very
cool feeling! :) For me it is about 40 mg injected IV with a tuberculin
syringe (1cc 27g 1/2). A little more for a little deeper, but going all the
way into anesthesia is not all that special, you can't really think or remember
while under the full dose, I don't recommended it on your first try. Always
have a health care professional available while you try this to maintain your
airway should you have a negative reaction to the drug. As with all noxious
chemicals, you will feel like shit for several hours after the experience,
especially if you try to walk, carry on a conversation, or do any activity
that requires mental clarity. BE CAREFUL! Learn about anesthesia before
attempting to play with anesthetic drugs................sq
--
squest@moonwatcher.avrtech.com \ ( ( | ) ) All opinions expressed reflect
================================> /_\ those of AVR Technologies, our
==> MicroPower FM Broadcasting / /\_/\ staff and Gozur the Destructor
=============================================================================
From: crow@CSOS.ORST.EDU (Corey Green)
Newsgroups: alt.drugs
Subject: Excellent Ketamine Read
Date: 27 May 1994 16:29:12 GMT
Message-ID: <2s574o$gup@jadzia.CSOS.ORST.EDU>
An excellent book on Ketamine is called "Journey's to the bright side"
I'm failing to remember the author's name but she also wrote the "Seth
speaks" books. Journey"s is completely about her experience's with "K"
it seem's that her husband was an anasthesiologist and regularly dosed
her.The story goes that she eventually started going to the same familier
place or dimension and meeting certain beings.She acually started a therapy
group called Samadhi,I believe in Seattle.The book is facinating,though it
was out of print when I found it in 1979.Unfortunatly she was murdered in
Seattle.Her husband believe's because she was writing an expose' on a local
satanic cult,apparently they never found her head.Anyway John Lilly the
"Dolphin guy" has some pretty amazing stories about "K" also.The same
kind of experience"s as Journey's.
Find your way back, crow.
=============================================================================
From: paul.rossouw@digitec.co.za (Paul Rossouw)
Newsgroups: alt.drugs
Subject: Ketamine
Message-ID: <5580.206.uupcb@digitec.co.za>
Date: 24 Jul 94 22:56:00 GMT
"Is this the famous stone that turneth all to gold?"- asked the editor
of the journal Anesthesia 26(2) 1971.
The search for a safe general anesthetic led pharmacologists in
1963 to the phencyclidines (CI-395, PCP, Sernyl, and congener
CI-400, cyclohexamine). Although producing adequate anesthesia, there
were marked trance-like psychotic reactions. Further research led to
ketamine, first introduced by the U of Michigan in 1965, which produced
less prominent psychotic reactions. Parke-Davis mass-produced it
(CI-581, Ketalar) as a safe general anesthetic, with rapid onset and
recovery and a wide margin of safety, and it was extensively used in the
Vietnam War.
Ketamine produces what is called a "dissociative" anesthetic state,
meaning ego-mind is split or dis-associated from body-reality. Aka OBE,
astral projection, soul travel, xtc, etc. Yes, back in the hospital
beds, the patients were coming round and bringing reports of the most
amazing trips ....
How do you feel today Mrs Brown?
- Well, Doc. I was floating up on the ceiling, looking down at myself..
- I died and went to Heaven. I saw God and the angles, it was beautiful.
- This UFO landed and these aliens took me aboard and we flew around.
- Everything was red. Then I realized I'd become a blood cell...
- I relived a previous life as an Egyptian mathematician.
- Wow, man. That was some mean acid you gave me.
- What the fuck chemical did you give my little baby, Doktor.
Medics aren't trained in metaphysics, so they labeled these peculiar
experiences as "emergent phenomena" and K began getting very bad press.
How can we control these horrible hallucinations, they asked themselves.
What other chemical can we give to our patients so that they'll remember
nothing of this? Of course, the solution was obvious. Treat patients
like humans, not product. Tell them that they are going to trip. Explain
what might happen. Give them tips to cope with any problems. When they
come round, leave them alone in a quite place to recover, etc. A
study was done showing that this was an effective way of reducing
adverse patient reaction. It was largely ignored.
Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it - various
versions available.
Paul
---
. SLMR 2.1a . No left turn unstoned
----
--- Digitec Online --- Johannesburg, South Africa --- tel +27 11 476-2008 ---
=============================================================================
From: paul.rossouw@digitec.co.za (Paul Rossouw)
Newsgroups: alt.drugs
Subject: Ketamine
Message-ID: <5581.206.uupcb@digitec.co.za>
Date: 24 Jul 94 22:57:00 GMT
Is this your passport home?
imho K is a tool for rapidly, and safely, accessing hyper-dimensional
realities (usually, 0-gravity) which exist vibrational frequencies
away from baseline beta frequencies. K allows you to control the
frequency your body-mind (CNS-DNA) is tuned to and allows you to
operate at much higher vibrational frequencies. The feeling when coming
back Earth-side is that every molecule has been recharged.
Think of a TV set tuned only to the Sports channel. Only picking up
sports-related info. Now, give that person a device to tune the TV in to
other frequencies. Wow, other info. Food, weather, sit-coms, news,
religion, porn, nature, music.... get the picture? We all have this
reality tuning ability within us. Yessiree, K mimics the effects of
an indogenous neurotransmitter, lovingly called angeldustine. Secreted
at moments of xtreme stress and/or spiritual xtc. This chemical explains
the OBEs, astral-projections, NDEs, other worldly experiences,
Xtra-terrestrial contacts, etc. accounts you might have read about in
your favorite spiritual guide book.
I recommend you begin by making friends with your body-mind. You laugh,
but this is your launch pad and your home upon your return. You need to
have absolute faith that your body-mind will take care of itself 100%
while you're away. Basically, you need to check for any self-destruct
programs you might have hard-wired. (Lilly screwed up many times because
of this). Meditation helps, but I recommend spending lots of time in a
float-tank. "I'm going now body. Take care. Be back later". When you
return the first thing you do is a body check: Heart? OK. Breathing? OK.
Senses? Eyes - Out of focus, etc .... (This is especially important when
floating on K in the tank). Please note that when you are not using your
body (hardware), other non-physical entities (software) might ask
to use it. This is aka channeling.
With practice using K you can begin to give your body-mind very specific
instructions, which it will perform with robotic precision. Not only,
stand up, balance, take three steps forward, press the HiFi power switch
in, and so on... But also very intricate movements that demand
incredible fine-neuromotor control. I mean complete a jumbled Rubic's
Cube in under a minute, play the Violin like Paganini, shoot that
arrow better than Robin Hood, type up an award-winning magazine article.
Here is a new market. Jack a tab and play like a pro. But first, may we
suggest a little multi-media programming in the tank.
Oh yes, don't forget your affirmation before a trip. This is like a
prayer - the Monroe institute provide an excellent one (should I post
it). Here you affirm that you (and friend body-mind) are good kinda
people. You are doing this to explore your greater potential. Any other
good folk out there who want to help can do so. May you come back in one
piece. Amen.
Paul
---
. SLMR 2.1a . No left turn unstoned
----
--- Digitec Online --- Johannesburg, South Africa --- tel +27 11 476-2008 ---
=============================================================================
Newsgroups: alt.drugs
From: meb8913@utarlg.uta.edu (Mark Browning)
Subject: Bad news about Ketamine
Message-ID: <7AUG199413582287@utarlg.uta.edu>
Date: Sun, 7 Aug 1994 19:58:00 GMT
After about 6 months of fairly regular use of Ketamine HCl taken IV
I have found, to my horror, that at last I have a resistance to it.
I started with 0.08 cc Iv, now I take 0.45 (normally a huge dose) with
very little effect. Also I have found that what ever trip there is
has been greatly reduced in length. First trip was 30 minutes, they
are now about 5 minutes.
I am not too surprised by the resistance to it. It happens with virtualy
every drug. Does anyone know what neurotransmitter is being suppressed
and how long I have to wait?
Thanks
Mark
=============================================================================
Newsgroups: alt.drugs
From: mcthomas@netcom.com (Matt Thomas)
Subject: Re: Bad news about Ketamine
Message-ID:
Date: Tue, 16 Aug 1994 00:02:27 GMT
: Yes it is a small amount, however Ketamine is supplied in 100 mg/ml (10 ml)
: bottles.
: It would not be wise to add the bottle to 100cc of fluid, if did this,
: and you were up to taking 0.4cc (40 mg) IV you would need a 6cc syringe to
: hold your 4.0cc (40 mg) of diluted fluid. Let me tell you it is sometimes
: hard enough to get 0.4cc in, let alone 4cc. Also if you diluted it in
: this manor you would not be able to take the Ketamine Sub Cu. One
: can safely take about 2cc of fluid Sub Cu, anything over that and you
: run the risk of getting a sterile abscess (a very nasty ulcer of the
: skin that takes a long time to heal and scares badly).
I've had the fortune of obtaining a case (40 bottles 100 mg/ml) and found
that after IVing for weeks it gets old trying to hide the tracks. So I
decided to boil down a bottle. I got a gram of pure white crystals.
Snorted it takes 60 seconds for full effect and follow-up doses are VERY
small to keep the high. I stayed fucked up on K for a week with 2 grams.
I was on the front porch reading yesterday's sports page naked one day.
I decided to fall back on pot for a while...
Matt
--
===============================================================================
| Matt Thomas | ...endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable |
| mcthomas@netcom.com | rights: Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness. |
| Atlanta, GA | _\|/_ L E G A L I Z E M A R I J U A N A _\|/_ |
===============================================================================
(If you agree with that, then anon FTP to: ftp.netcom.com pub/mcthomas/hemp)
=============================================================================
From: paul.rossouw@digitec.co.za (Paul Rossouw)
Newsgroups: alt.drugs
Subject: Ketamine, use for
Message-ID: <4658.206.uupcb@digitec.co.za>
Date: 18 Jul 94 02:49:00 GMT
I would like to focus attention onto ketamine as this is a most
Profound And Precious Chemical (PPC). Are you asking yourself, why
should I try this stuff ? What practical use does Ketamine have, other
than putting out people and cats? Here is a suggestion.
Use for Ketamine:
As a Virtual Reality software design tool
K has vast potential as a tool to be used in the creation and evaluation
of virtual realities. Anyone involved with the development of VR
applications will attest to the inherent problems involved in coming up
with, prototyping, and testing ideas. Much time/money is wasted on
ideas that turn out to be inappropriate. On the other hand, when you
take K you get transported to what is essentially another reality; to
fly around, explore and interact in that other reality. It seems highly
feasible that while on K, one's attention could be focused on the
creation and exploration of a world that you later plan to re-create
with a VR toolkit.
To give a brief example. On K I occasionally go to a "Museum space",
usually when coming back form another K place. In this space I
experience myself as a Museum exhibition. I am a life-size statue, with
my back to one of the walls, floating about 20 meters from the ground.
As I look down, I can see people wondering in and out of the Museum.
They are looking at the various exhibits and statues scattered around
the space, some on the ground, others on podiums, others floating above
the ground like myself. Everything seems odd, yet strangely familiar.
Think of visiting an Egyptian museum, to get a picture in your mind of
what I am describing. I attentively watch the goings on for a while,
everything seems meaningful and insights keep popping into my head.
After a certain period of watching, I unhitch, the Museum banks to
one side and I start "flowing" (although I don't flow like water,
more akin to a toothpaste tube being squeezed), and head off to another
K space.
What has this to do with VR design? I also thought nothing about it
until I read Gelernter's book "Mirror World's, or the day the world gets
put into a shoebox, how it will happen and what it will mean" (I'm
quoting from memory so this might be slightly wrong). Therein, Gelernter
describes what he calls a *Turingware Trellis*, which is a VR
environment where humans and software can intermingle. Raw data flows
into the bottom of the trellis and becomes more meaningful as it raises
up. Towards the top, human faces start appearing, individuals poking
their heads into the virtual space. The diagram in the book shows a
number of disembodied faces, floating high amongst a wall of data which
is piped in from the bottom. The similarities were clear and the idea
flashed that my "Museum space" was really a "Turingware Trellis".
Could one not use K then to explore and prototype virtual worlds,
and ideas like the Turingware Trellis? How else can we prepare
ourselves for the Mirror Worlds of the future? What is it going to be
like to float around in virtual worlds, watching data and people.
Disorientation, aesthetics, navigation, usability, etc can be addressed
from K spaces, without lengthy and costly VR development. This notion is
not a new one. John Lilly, in an Omni interview, mentioned that the cast
and crew of the film Altered States had prepared themselves by taking
K. In the 1960's there were many similar suggestions about chemicals
like LSD. Progressive Architecture (1966), actually carried an article
called "LSD: A design tool". My idea is a natural extension of this type
of thinking.
I will be exploring this a bit further in the next few weeks, so any
comments or suggestions are most welcome. Also, what about other uses
for K?
Cheers Paul.
---
. SLMR 2.1a . My reality check just bounced.
----
--- Digitec Online --- Johannesburg, South Africa --- tel +27 11 476-2008 ---
=============================================================================
o KETAMINE ('Vitamin K', 'Special K')
//\
// \ CH
| || | 3
| || |
\\ /\ N--H
\\/ \/
| /\ O
Cl / \//
| |
| |
\ /
\/
Ketamine is chemically related to PCP ('Angel Dust'). PCP, a
dangerous American street drug rather than a psychedelic, is
characterized by resulting in frequent bad trips, psychotic reactions
and extreme violence in its users.
But Ketamine appears to be much safer than PCP. It is still used in
human medicine unlike PCP. Currently Ketamine ('Ketalar') is a
prescription only medicine rather than a controlled drug in Britain.
It is a powerful drug used as a general anaesthetic, which has some
strange psychedelic effects when used at low doses (25-100 mg). The
usual medical form is a liquid when it is injected intramuscularly.
American street users heat the liquid to obtain a white powder which
is smoked or snorted. Ketamine may be ineffective when taken by mouth
- although one report from Denmark claims it to be orally active at
the 200 mg level with the effects becoming apparent slowly.
The effects are stronger and more profound than acid but last only an
hour or so. The subject should remain still. Experiences of the mind
leaving the body and floating in space, or even death are common. Bad
trips are supposed to be absent but there are serious dangers
following heavy use. Dr John Lilly and his fellow researchers have
used the drug continuously for weeks. Several believe themselves to
have contacted alien intelligences and two committed suicide.
Although non-toxic (unlike PCP) it appears to have potential for
psychological dependency. K has been used in experimental psychotherapy.
In 1991 reports have emerged of K usage by the nightclubbing
fraternity in New York. This practice has now spread to London where
K is available for about 100 pounds per gram. I am rather surprised
by this since clubbers tend to go for stimulating drugs rather than
those sedative in nature.
=============================================================================
Newsgroups: alt.psychoactives
From: bwhite@oucsace.cs.ohiou.edu (William E. White )
Subject: Re: Special K refs ?
Message-ID:
Date: Thu, 6 Oct 1994 01:12:29 GMT
In article ,
Part-Time Cosmic Baby wrote:
>Does anyone know if there is abuse potencial for Special K ?
Yes. There is.
>Any long/short term toxicity ?
Short term -- yes, it has acute toxicity; like most NMDA/sigma agents, it
can suppress respiration in sufficient quantities. I don't know the LD50.
Long term -- don't know. Possible rebound excitotoxicity on NMDA receptors
if you use it too often -- would would lead to general functional loss,
possibly concentrated in areas of memory.
>How does it work in the brain ?
It acts upon several neuroreceptors:
1) The NMDA receptor (an excitatory amino acid receptor), where it blocks
neurotransmission by lodging in the open configuration, preventing ion
influx/outflux.
2) The sigma receptor, where it acts as an agonist
3) The PCP2 receptor, where it acts (with micromolar, i.e., not much,
potency) to block a reuptake channel.
>If this is the case, then it may explain why people may contact alien
>inteligences while on K, maybe becase it facilitates that sort of extreme
>mental projection of seeing things from an alien's point of view.
Perhaps. Of course, keep in mind that the sigma receptor is thought to
be involved in schizophrenia (accounting, unlike the dopamine receptor,
for both the positive and negative symptoms), and sigma activity has
been associated with drug-induced psychosis. YMMV.
--
| Bill White +1-614-594-3434 | bwhite@oucsace.cs.ohiou.edu |
| 44 Canterbury, Athens OH 45701 | finger for PGP2.2 block |
=============================================================================
From: George Greer <76555.1137@CompuServe.COM>
Newsgroups: alt.drugs
Subject: Re: Obtaining Ketamine
Date: 8 Oct 1994 03:49:53 GMT
Message-ID: <3754t1$d63$1@mhadf.production.compuserve.com>
As a psychiatrist, I gave ketamine to about 40 people in the
'80's. Psychologically it is very safe: even the PDR says there
are no lasting psychological problems, though somewhat
dissociative "flashbacks" have occurred. Physically, there is
total loss of coordination if you take enough (say 1.5 mg/kg, or
about 100 mg), so trying to move around can be dangerous. Also,
if you move your head much while under the influence, it can make
your very dizzy, nauseous and make you throw up. Ketamine and a
non-empty stomach do not mix. Also, when given IV it can cause
you to stop breathing, so do not try this at home. Other
contraindications are: high blood pressure (it increases blood
pressure), heart disease, liver disease (it could take a long
time to come down), seizures (if you have them, you might have
one). The most consistent benefit reported by the first 20-40
subjects was that, though they had believed that their spirit
lasted after their bodies died, after ketamine, they knew they
would not die with their bodies. Ketamine is now a Schedule III
Controlled Substance in California, New Mexico, and probably
other states.
George Greer, M.D. 76555.1137@compuserve.com
=============================================================================
Message-ID: <213331Z16021995@anon.penet.fi>
Newsgroups: alt.drugs
From: an31339@anon.penet.fi
Date: Thu, 16 Feb 1995 21:29:43 UTC
Subject: Ketamine facts (was Re: The World according to Ketamine)
kenneth23@aol.com (Kenneth23) writes:
>Ketamine is NOT, NOT, (one more time) >>>NOT<<< a tranquilizer!!! It is a
>GENERAL ANESTHETIC, used on BOTH humans >>>AND<<< animals, around the
>entire country, every single frigging day. If you don't know what a
>general anesthetic is, look it up.
Wow. Once again there's a message by some supercilious fool who is not
only obnoxious, but wrong. Yes, the above post does go on to sat that
ketamine's action is dissociative, so that's good. But ketamine is NOT
a general anesthetic. According to the Ketaset insert "the anesthetic
state produced does not fit into the conventional classification of
stages of anesthesia." It is NOT a GENERAL anesthetic. It is a
DISSOCIATIVE anesthetic. Analgesic properties are not manifest at the
lower dosages, where immobility is effected. This is why many people,
including vets I know (ketamine is used in humans very infrequently,
as it can lead to rather unpleasurable experiences) refer to ketamine
as tranquilizer. This is not a completely inaccurate description. In
fact, it's a hell of a lot closer to the truth than calling it a
general anesthetic.
To clear up any possible confusions, here are some exerpts from the
Ketaset insert. Ketaset is a brand name for ketamine hydrochloride.
Ketaset is for animal use only, probably due to the way it is
prepared. I have not included the whole insert. I don't have the time
right now, unfortunately. But here are some interesting tidbits:
DESCRIPTION
KETASET (ketamine hydrochloride injection, USP), is a rapid-acting,
nonnarcotic, nonbarbituate agent for anesthetic use in cats and for
restraint in subhuman primates. It is chemically designated
dl-(o0chlotophenyl)-2-(methylamino) cyclohexanone hydrochloride and is
supplied as a slightly acit (pH 3.0 to 5.0) solution for intramuscular
injection in a concentration containing the equivalent of 100 mg
ketamine bas per milliliter and contains no more than 0.2 mg/mL
benzethonium chloride as a preservative.
KETASET is a rapid-acting agent whose pharmacological action is
characterized by profound analgesia, normal pharyngeal-laryngeal
reflexes, mild cardiac stimulation and respiratory depression.
Skeletal muscle tone is variable and me be normal, enhanced or
diminished. The anesthetic state produced does not fit into the
conventional classification of stages of anesthesia, but instead
KETASET produces a state of unconsciousness which has been termed
"dissociative" anesthesia in that it appears to selectively interrupt
association pathways to the brain before producing somesthetic sensory
blockade.
In contrast to other anesthetics, protective reflexes, such as
coughing and swallowing are maintained under KETASET anesthesia. The
degree of muscle tone is dependant upon the level of dose; therefore,
variations in body temperature may occur. At low dosage levels there
may be an increase in muscle tone and a concamitant slight increase in
body temperature. However, at high dosage levels there is some
dimunition in muscle tone and a resultant decrease in body
temperature, to the point where supplemental heat may be advisable.
[...] Although salivation is occasionally noted, the persistence of
the swallowing reflex aids in minimizing the hazards associated with
ptyalism. Salivation may be effectively controlled with atropine
sulfate in dosages of 0.04 mg/kg (0.02 mg/lb) in cats and 0.01 to 0.05
mg/kg (0.005 to 0.025 mg/lb) in subhuman primates.
Other reflexes, e.g., corneal, pedal, etc., are maintained during
KETASET anesthesia, and should not be used as criteria for judging
depth of anesthesia. The eyes normally remain open with the pupils
dilated. It is suggested that a bland ophthalmic ointment be applied
to the cornea if anesthesia is to be prolonged.
[...] In studies involving 14 species of subhuman primates represented
by at least 10 anesthetic episodes for each species, the median time
to restraint ranged from 1.5 [Aotus trivirgatus (night monkey) and
Cebus capucinus (white-throated capuchin)] to 5.3 minutes [Macaca
nemestrina (pig-tailed macaque)]. The median duration of restraint
ranged between 20 and 55 minutes in all but five species studied.
Total time from injection to end of restraint ranged from 43 [Saimiri
sciureus (squirrel monkey)] to 183 minutes [Macaca nemestrina
(pig-tailed macaque)] after injection. Recovery is generally smooth
and uneventful. The duration is dose related.
By single intramuscular injection, KETASET usually has a wide margin
of safety in cats and subhuman primates. In cats, cases of prolonged
recovery and death have been reported.
INDICATIONS
KETASET may be used in cats for restraint or as a sole anesthetic
agent for diagnostic or minor, brief, surgical procedures that do not
require skeletal muscle relaxation. It may be used in subhuman
primates for restraint.
CONTRAINDICATIONS
KETASET is contraindicated in cats and subhuman primates suffering
from renal or hepatic insufficiency.
PRECAUTIONS
In cats, doses in excess of 50 mg/kg suring any single procedure
should not be used. The maximum recommended does in subhuman primates
is 40 mg/kg. [...]
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That's all I have time for now, unfortunately. I should note that
they provide recommended doses for both restraint and "anesthesia that
is suitable for diagnostic or minor surgical procedures that do not
require skeletal muscle relaxation" in cats. But for subhuman
primates, they provide dosages for restraint only. This is because
KETAMINE IS NOT A GENERAL ANESTHETIC and should not be used as one.
Thanks for listening,
Slack